|
The Fourth of July was
traditionally celebrated as America's birthday, but the idea of
an annual day specifically celebrating the Flag is believed to
have first originated in 1885. BJ Cigrand, a schoolteacher,
arranged for the pupils in the Fredonia, Wisconsin Public
School, District 6, to observe June 14 (the 108th anniversary of
the official adoption of The Stars and Stripes) as 'Flag
Birthday'. In numerous magazines and newspaper articles and
public addresses over the following years, Cigrand continued to
enthusiastically advocate the observance of June 14 as 'Flag
Birthday', or 'Flag Day'.
On June 14, 1889, George Balch,
a kindergarten teacher in New York City, planned appropriate
ceremonies for the children of his school, and his idea of
observing Flag Day was later adopted by the State Board of
Education of New York. On June 14, 1891, the Betsy Ross House in
Philadelphia held a Flag Day celebration, and on June 14 of the
following year, the New York Society of the Sons of the
Revolution, celebrated Flag Day.
Following the suggestion of
Colonel J Granville Leach (at the time historian of the
Pennsylvania Society of the Sons of the Revolution), the
Pennsylvania Society of Colonial Dames of America on April 25,
1893 adopted a resolution requesting the mayor of Philadelphia
and all others in authority and all private citizens to display
the Flag on June 14th. Leach went on to recommend that
thereafter the day be known as 'Flag Day', and on that day,
school children be assembled for appropriate exercises, with
each child being given a small Flag.
Two weeks later on May 8th, the
Board of Managers of the Pennsylvania Society of Sons of the
Revolution unanimously endorsed the action of the Pennsylvania
Society of Colonial Dames. As a result of the resolution, Dr.
Edward Brooks, then Superintendent of Public Schools of
Philadelphia, directed that Flag Day exercises be held on June
14, 1893 in Independence Square. School children were assembled,
each carrying a small Flag, and patriotic songs were sung and
addresses delivered.
In 1894, the governor of New
York directed that on June 14 the Flag be displayed on all
public buildings. With BJ Cigrand and Leroy Van Horn as the
moving spirits, the Illinois organization, known as the American
Flag Day Association, was organized for the purpose of promoting
the holding of Flag Day exercises. On June 14th, 1894, under the
auspices of this association, the first general public school
children's celebration of Flag Day in Chicago was held in
Douglas, Garfield, Humboldt, Lincoln, and Washington Parks, with
more than 300,000 children participating.
Adults, too, participated in
patriotic programs. Franklin K. Lane, Secretary of the Interior,
delivered a 1914 Flag Day address in which he repeated words he
said the flag had spoken to him that morning: "I am what
you make me; nothing more. I swing before your eyes as a bright
gleam of color, a symbol of yourself."
Inspired by these three decades
of state and local celebrations, Flag Day - the anniversary of
the Flag Resolution of 1777 - was officially established by the
Proclamation of President Woodrow Wilson on May 30th, 1916.
While Flag Day was celebrated in various communities for years
after Wilson's proclamation, it was not until August 3rd, 1949,
that President Truman signed an Act of Congress designating June
14th of each year as National Flag Day. |
